


magnetospheres

by spookykingdomstarlight



Category: Star Wars (Marvel Comics), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Chance Meetings, F/F, Flirting, Post-Aftermath Trilogy, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-04 23:41:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12782163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookykingdomstarlight/pseuds/spookykingdomstarlight
Summary: “I have better things to do.” Rae sipped at her drink and looked past Aphra to the door. How Aphra had found her here, she couldn’t even begin to say, but if she wasn’t so pissed at the intrusion, she would have been impressed with her ingenuity and dedication. “Than sit here and look at you, Aphra.”





	magnetospheres

**Author's Note:**

  * For [olio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/olio/gifts).



It wasn’t that Rae hated the Unknown Regions so much as she hated everything they stood for. Well, metaphorically anyway. Space couldn’t stand for anything. But if it did, it would have stood for chaos, lawlessness, general mischief, and untold dangers. None of these things could Rae say she appreciated. And yet here she found herself, trapped like everyone else in this quagmire of solar storms, black holes, rogue magnetospheres—which, talk about dramatic. Rae didn’t have time for any of it.

And yet, here she was.

Tales told pretended that the Unknown Regions were uninhabited and uninhabitable, but that just wasn’t true. Idiots and adventures staked their claims in whatever small stretch of space they could chart, if chart was the right word for it. They could guarantee for themselves, up to a point, that they could safely travel from one end to the other of their carefully studied parcel. And in that parcel was where, some said, the magic happened.

At least until one of those rogue magnetospheres decided to discharge some plasma unexpectedly and bathed the surrounding stretches of void in unfriendly radiation. And that was only the nicest thing that could happen out here. There was much worse that could go wrong and more than Rae cared to admit that actually scared her.

Some of them, admittedly, merely annoyed the shit out of her.

Especially when they sat across from her and kicked their mud-caked boots up onto her comparatively clean table. Sneering, she pulled her drink out of proximity of the dirt—who knew what was in it—and glared at the offender before her. “Aphra,” she said. Displeasure was the least of what she felt right now and she had no qualms with expressing it. If she could light Aphra on fire with her mind, she might have done it.

It still came as such a surprise to Rae that she’d survived her experience with Darth Vader. If Rae was unhappy with her, she could only imagine how he felt on a day-to-day basis.

Then again, he was dead and Aphra was still here. Who was Rae to judge how she’d managed that?

In fact, an almost infinitesimally small part of her admired it. Aphra was a survivor, like Rae was. There was much to appreciate in a person who could accomplish what Aphra managed without getting herself into so much trouble that she ended up in jail or worse.

Still didn’t mean Rae wanted to see her, but, well. She was probably glad Aphra wasn’t dead.

And then Aphra smiled and she was definitely unhappy that Aphra wasn’t dead. In fact, Rae’s life would have been so much easier if she was. Because then she wouldn’t have to confront the fact that her stomach dipped a little when Aphra’s mouth quirked in that particular direction.

“I have better things to do.” Rae sipped at her drink and looked past Aphra to the door. How Aphra had found her here, she couldn’t even begin to say, but if she wasn’t so pissed at the intrusion, she would have been impressed with her ingenuity and dedication. “Than sit here and look at you, Aphra.”

That smile broadened to become a grin. “Don’t get your uniform in a twist, my very dear Admiral. You think I like running into you?”

“Mmm,” she said, registering just how unimpressed she was. And it wasn’t that Rae wasn’t flattered. The problem was just how flattered she was. She had too much to do to think about the finer implications of having drawn Aphra’s attention to her. “Yes.”

Aphra scratched her fingernails across the tattoos that crept up her arm, old-fashioned even by Rae’s more traditional standards. It made her look younger than she was, that gesture, and for a moment, Rae felt for her. No one who found their way to the Unknown Regions went there if they had any other choice. For some people, it was simply a drive for more. For others, it was as good as exile. Rae wondered sometimes what it was for Aphra.

“Okay, yes,” Aphra answered. “But that’s not why I’m here.”

“Why are you here then?”

“To have a drink.” She winked for reasons that Rae found entirely incomprehensible under the circumstances. It never worked on Rae and she hadn’t even said anything all that interesting or provocative. “That I now have cute company is just icing on the cake. It was coincidence.” She lifted her hands in surrender, as though that proved anything. “Nothing more.”

Ah. And there it was.

Rae pursed her lips together. “Fine,” she said, both acknowledging the wink and Aphra’s ridiculous words, and hating herself for it. She wasn’t one to be seduced; too no-nonsense and taciturn, she didn’t suffer fools. And Aphra was the queen of them. Still, Rae was reluctantly charmed far more often than she wasn’t. Maybe this was why Aphra still lived. Imagine if Rae genuinely hated the woman?

Darth Vader may not have succeeded in killing her, but Rae would have—if that had been her desire.

But these were the Unknown Regions. Anything could—and did—happen.

A woman who would have had killed the woman across from her instead chose not to. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to happen. It wouldn’t even be the weirdest thing to happen to Rae.

“Does this mean you’ll let me take you out for real now?” Aphra asked, fluttering her eyelashes and leaning forward, her hands laced beneath her chin.

“Don’t hold your breath,” Rae said, glad she had such a good sabacc face if only for the joy of seeing Aphra’s face fall. This was the game they played. And Aphra wouldn’t stay down for long. That was the beauty of it: Aphra always came back for more. That, Rae could admit, was impressive in its own way, too.

One day, Rae would give in and say yes to her. In fact, she intended to be the one to broach the topic when the moment was right. It would be fun and Rae was distinctly lacking in that.

For now, she would concede this much. With a raised glass, she said, “To rogue archaeologists.”

Aphra ducked her head for a moment, a becoming blush spreading across her cheeks. But she raised own in turn and clinked it against Rae’s. “To former Imperials.”

They passed the evening the way they always did, silently pondering one another while occasionally pointing out this, that, or the other flaw in one another.

There was nothing better in the Unknown Regions than this.

And they both knew it.


End file.
